San Bernardino Sun: After 30 years, Children’s Bureau has a new leader

Alex Morales has spent the last 30 years helping to lead the charge against child abuse.

The Upland resident was honored recently at a gala for Children’s Bureau, the nonprofit he has led for decades. He is retiring.

The gala event, dubbed “Sky’s the Limit – Blue Tie Gala,’’ served to recognize his work, but also to raise money and it did — $525,000.

Morales began his career as a social worker motivated by his desire to making a difference that might help heal the world.

“I am retiring as chief executive officer, but I am not retiring from contributing to a world where all children are given a chance to grow up healthy, happy, and loved, especially the ones that are often overlooked,’’ he said in an email. “After hearing the heartache and pain of more than 1,000 families in my counseling work with vulnerable families, I have become convinced that parents don’t want to mistreat or neglect their children, they just don’t know how to parent well and they don’t have the support to do it better.”